Texas teacher gives students “ghetto” awards

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If a teacher doesn’t realize that using the word “ghetto” to describe your students is a bad thing, should they even be teaching to begin with?

That’s what parents are asking after a teacher at Sulphur Spring Middle School in Sulphur Springs passed out certificates to kids labeled “Ghetto Classroom Awards.” According to a report by CBS DFW.com, one of the students was given a certificate called “The Huh? Award.” That student was African American, and, worse yet, the children in the class all have a learning problem of some sort. Anyone else facepalming themselves yet? If not, here’s a Jesus facepalm for you.

The response from a grandparent interviewed by CBSDFW.com says it all:

Debra Jose’s grandson was a recipient of one of the end of year awards. She said, “Tears just started falling out of my eyes. I was like, ‘what did they just do to him again?’” Jose said she was so disturbed she couldn’t rest. “I just lay in bed and thought about it all night long. I couldn’t sleep very good. You want the best for children — not just my grandchild — but, every child.”

Here is the complete television news story from Dallas:

The teacher claims she had no idea using the term “ghetto” was offensive. As dumb as that excuse sounds, I think we all have known at least one teacher who was that clueless. I just assumed teachers today had a bit more discernment. Apparently, I was wrong.

It should be noted that the teacher labeled the certificates as the “Eighth Annual” edition of the awards, which means she had possibly been doing this for at least that long, even before she came to Sulphur Springs Middle School. How she could get away with it for so long just demonstrates how broken our education system is, which protects bad teachers at the expense of students. And they criticize homeschooling and private Christian schools?

About Victor Medina

Victor Medina is a freelance writer based in Dallas. He is the editor of WhenLiberalsAttack.com, and his other writing credits include The Dallas Morning News, Yahoo News, Cinelinx.com and SportsIllustrated.com. He has served as a Dallas County election judge and on the Board of Directors of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. He is a member of the leadership team of the Cafe con Leche Republicans. You can follow him on his blog, VictorMedina.com or on Twitter at @mrvictormedina. He can be reached by email at vic@victormedina.com.